science tea and pure comedy

Happy Sunday! Happy Birthday Weekend (yes, my birthday’s on Monday, but we can all celebrate)! How are you doing? Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ Maybe your thing is yoga, meditation, running, reading, tending to a pallet garden you built, sewing some pillowcases for your home decor, making a dress to match your homemade mask, paddle boarding, refurbishing furniture, tooling around with some new tools, or even playing animal crossing with family and friends, but whatever you want to do during your assigned ‘me time,’ make sure you’re doing it and giving yourself a break.

If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post - “salt mines and bowling alleys” - you can click here to read all about my and my boyfriend’s last day in Salzburg on a salt mine tour and a train ride to Germany for a fun night out in Munich! If you’re all caught up, then buckle up because we’re heading back to Londontown! The final morning with my boyfriend in Munich was bittersweet. We'd spent so much time together over the past 9 or so days, and I'd had such a fun time that I couldn't imagine traveling on without him coming with me. It was hard to say goodbye, but our Eurotrip had to come to an end eventually, so he stayed in Munich and enjoyed some more time with his friend, and I headed off to the airport to get to London.

The last time I was in London, I got to see Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Westminster Palace, Wicked on the West End, Van Morrison perform at BluesFest, Harry Potter & The Cursed Child on the West End, catch up with my friend from boarding school and my friend from London, and watch the Philadelphia Eagles win at Wembley Stadium. My trip back to London this time was solely to spend time with two of my first friends I made in college at Villanova. Joe and Kristen met me at the airport when I landed and planned a lovely science-themed tea for me to kick off my birthday weekend. We got to concoct lemonades, watch dry ice blow our minds, dig for fossils in some “dirt,” and eat delicious tea sandwiches and space-themed desserts! It was such a fun experience and the perfect way to start our weekend together in England!

After science-themed tea, the three of us popped over to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre to see “A Comedy of Errors.” It was one of the few things I didn’t get to do on my previous trip to London, and I was so happy I got to share the experience with two of my closest friends. The best part was that for the first 20ish minutes or so of the show (which started with music!), none of us had any idea what was happening, and then - poof - it all clicked! And once it clicked, it was the type of show where everything went wrong and everything was hilarious. The Globe Theatre, itself, was an incredible venue. We opted to actually get seats for the show, but the standing room only section on the ground level offered tickets for just around $5. It’s definitely worth the trip when in London.

After tea and the show we made our way to Paddington Station (be still, my heart), ended up missing our train (partly my fault since I did one of those bag BnB situations), and eventually found a different train to get us back to the countryside to their (at the time new) home! It was a perfect birthday eve with good friends, great tea, and wonderful comedy.

Isn’t it true that when something is good, it doesn’t lose its value? Perhaps that’s why we all still read Shakespeare and can enjoy it when we’re able to see it done well - life’s simple truths. Have you ever experienced a good, live Shakespeare play? Let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been receiving a lot of really incredible stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe! Other people’s stories that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about whatever stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have any restaurants/eateries/pubs/coffee shops/ice cream joints/theatres/lookout spots you would recommend in other countries or even in your current home town or city, I'm absolutely 100% all ears!! I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of travel adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):